This is just a quick message to wish my readers a Happy New Year - it's quick because I'm sitting at Starbucks in Nicosia with only about 30 minutes of battery left, and I think the only available electric plug has been commandeered by some nerd who is probably going to sit there all day glued to the internet or games or something. Some people have nothing else to do!

I made it back to Cyprus, again two hours late, because of the Haj. Next time I go anywhere, I am consulting the calendars of all major religions, this is getting just too much. Yesterday I was half asleep, I had lunch with Nicky, and both of us were late for it, and we were both practically falling asleep in the sunshine along the main street here. The cafes have got heaters on the terraces, for the lily-livered locals, but really it makes it too hot for the rest of us.

Good news is that I have a new camera, it is a pink Nikon Coolpix, I got it at the airport in Paris - have to install some software to upload pictures to the laptop, but that shouldn't be too hard to do, even for me. I'll do it at work on Wednesday, I think. I've already taken a few photos, and the quality looks better than the old camera. But I'm still cross about losing that - either it dropped out of my bag or someone took it out, I actually wonder if that happened while I was in Debenham's the day before Christmas? Someone did brush against me, and the camera was at the top of my bag, as far as I can remember. But who knows? What annoys me is to lose the photos of the cats at Le Meridien, they were good.

And to finish, a quick summing-up of my stitching oeuvre for 2007: pretty pathetic! I didn't have as many finishes as in 2006, by a long way. I guess some of this can be explained by six months of commuting three hours a day, and the stress of the French project. I want to do better in 2008, and I think I will, as there are a couple of things making their way to the finish line.